Andromeda's Fall (Shadowcat Nation) (13 page)

The
sound of a throat being cleared pulled her gaze from Jaxon. Zac stood in the
doorway. “I can come back,” he offered.

Andie
pushed Jaxon away. “No. No, we’ve got to get moving. I know we need to talk,
but we’ll have to do it later. Jaxon’s up and moving around. We can’t wait any
longer.” Andie knew she wouldn’t feel safe from those wolves until they were on
the helicopter.

Jaxon
looked between them. “What’s the plan?”

“I’ve
arranged for William to pick us up at the same place he dropped Jaxon off.”
Andie glanced outside at the swirling snow. “Because of the storm, driving out
of here isn’t possible. We’ll have to go on foot. Having a polar bear with us,
the wolves will be less apt to attack.”

“Mmmm,
but they likely will come back in greater number,” Jaxon said.

“Yeah.
It’ll be close, but I don’t see any other way out. If we stay, we’ll only hold
them off for so long,” Zac added.

Zac
and Andie exchanged a glance. The one time they’d been under attack by a large
pack like this, the decision to stay and ride it out had been a huge mistake.
They’d seen the wolf shifters send more and more fighters until they
overwhelmed all the defenses.

Hers
was as good a plan as any. She looked over at Jaxon, who still seemed a little
pale. “Are you going to be able to make it?” she asked. His injury was the only
thing putting them at a major disadvantage.

He
gingerly touched his side. “Won’t be fun, but I can manage.”

“I’ve
got a carrying pack with me. If we have to, we can strap you to my back,” Zac
offered.

Jaxon
looked as if he was trying not to laugh. “I sincerely hope that won’t be
necessary.”

“Me
too,” Zac muttered.

“Let’s
finish up getting our supplies together. I’ve also got some packs, so between
us we should be able to take a fair amount of provisions,” Jaxon said.

“Sounds
like we’ve got a plan.”

It
took them about half an hour to go through the house and pull out the gear they
thought they’d need most. And every second they were still in the house,
Andie’s nerves ratcheted up another level. They were taking too long. Staying
the rest of the night might have just cost them their lives. Not like they’d
really had a choice, though.

They
didn’t take much weaponry since they’d have to drop it if they wanted to shift,
giving the wolves an opportunity to pick it up themselves. And staying in human
form wouldn’t work in these conditions. They left the house together in their
shifter forms with both men carrying the gear.

They
walked in silence, Jaxon leading since he knew the way, Andie in the middle,
and Zac bringing up the rear. Normally she’d have resented being treated like
the weakest member in their party, but given whom she was with, that wasn’t exactly
an argument that would hold water.

They
made decent time, despite the storm and Jaxon’s injury. On the occasions when
the snow was higher than the cougars’ heads, Zac assumed the lead, breaking a
wider path for them. As night started to fall, Jaxon shifted course slightly.
He knew the area well, and they’d already discussed where they’d hole up and
rest. Cougars were naturally more nocturnal, but the wolves would be expecting
that and looking for them in the dark. Better to travel by day this time.

Jaxon
took them to a small, shallow cave. The top of the entrance was just barely
visible above the drifts of snow, and they had to dig out a wider entrance for
Zac to be able to get in.

Once
inside they piled the snow back up, closing off the opening and leaving a gap
at the top to allow in fresh air. The men took off their packs and shifted
while Andie averted her eyes. Then they gave her some privacy to do the same.
Once they were dressed, they cooked a quick dinner and sat on the cold, hard
rock of the cave floor to eat.

Now
that they had a moment, Andie knew the time to talk had finally come. She
glanced at each of them but couldn’t get a read on what they thought of each
other. She decided to concentrate on her friend first, since things with Jaxon
had been sort of settled earlier. Temporarily, at least.

“Thanks
for the message and for helping us out, Zac. I really appreciate it.” She gave
him a warm smile, her breath steaming in the icy air.

He
gave her his version of a smile, which was more on the scary side of just
baring his teeth. “Just glad I got here in time to help.” He cleared his
throat. “Mike filled me in on your situation with Carstairs. Doesn’t sound like
you have a lot of options left.”

Andie
glanced at Jaxon’s poker face. He was waiting to see what Zac was going to say
next. Despite having already agreed to join the Keller Dare, she also said
nothing and let Zac continue.

“I
wanted to let you know that you have a home with my timik anytime you want
one.” As he spoke, Zac kept his eyes on the plate of food balanced on his lap.
He’d always been uncomfortable showing his feelings. Andie felt warmth bloom at
this display of caring from the gruff polar bear shifter.

She
reached over and covered his hand, giving it a squeeze. “Thank you, my friend,”
she murmured. He squeezed back and nodded.

She
glanced at Jaxon. His expression revealed nothing, but she could see the wheels
spinning in his head. She returned her attention to Zac. “I
have
decided
to join the Keller Dare. Jaxon has offered me asylum.”

Zac
narrowed his eyes “As his wife?”

Jaxon
held up his hands. “You have to agree that mating and marrying someone in the
dare would eliminate the possibility of her extradition. The same holds true if
she joins your… timik was it?”

“Timik
means
body
in Inuktitut,” Andie informed him.

“So,
like the Shadowcat Nation forms dares, the polar bears form timiks?”

Zac
nodded. “We got the naming idea from you guys actually. Andie told me how dare
comes from some Iroquois term.”

Andie
nodded as well. Awa dare. It meant
we live in
.

“Well,
she can just as easily be extradited from your timik. It gets much harder if
she marries,” Jaxon insisted.

Zac
fixed Jaxon with a hard stare. “We have no treaty to uphold with the cougars,
so extradition isn’t as much of a problem with us.”

“War
is though. Kyle Carstairs won’t let you stand in his way. He’ll come for her.”

“I
won’t have her manipulated into a relationship she doesn’t want if she joins
you.”

“She’d
be paired with an Alpha,” Jaxon growled back. “That’s not exactly a casual
offer.”

“But
it gives you a measure of leverage where Carstairs is concerned. You can’t deny
that,” Zac retorted.

Jaxon
gave him an enigmatic smile. “I won’t deny that the thought crossed my mind.”
He sobered. “But my greater concern is Andie. I’ve had experience with Kyle,
and I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy. The man’s a sadist. She’ll be safer
with me, especially as my wife.”

Andie
slapped her hand on her thigh. “
She
is sitting right here and has a mind
of her own, you Neanderthals.” She glared at Jaxon and then turned to Zac.
“Although he’s asked me to mate and marry him, Jaxon has offered me asylum
regardless of if, or whom, I marry, or don’t.”

Zac
turned to Andie, taking her hands in his. “There is another option. You could
marry
me
.”

Jaxon
abruptly sat forward. If he’d been in his cougar form, his ears would’ve lain
flat against his skull.

Matings
between shifters of different types of animals weren’t unheard of, but they
were unusual. The human genetics were still dominant, and any offspring usually
ended up as shifters in the form of the stronger animal – in this case, the polar
bear.

Andie
tried to not let her shock show. She didn’t want to hurt Zac’s feelings or have
him think she didn’t appreciate the fact that, as they were only friends, he
was willing to sacrifice ever finding love in order to protect her. So she
selected her words with particular care and with more tact than she typically
demonstrated. “I appreciate your offer more than you know. But I think you’d
agree that we’d kill each other before the first week was out.” She grinned to
soften her words.

Zac
chuckled, though it sounded rusty, as if he didn’t do that often. “Guess you’re
right.”

Andie
smiled and then lowered her voice. “And you don’t owe me anything. I thought we
agreed on that.”

“I
owe you
everything
. Regardless of what you say, that’ll never change,”
he murmured back.

Andie
sighed. “Besides, regardless of mating, I have a place in his dare, and I’d
have equal chances either place.” She nodded toward Jaxon. “I’d honestly rather
go rogue than put either you or your people in jeopardy because of me. But I
have a feeling—”

“Absolutely
not,” Zac snapped.

“Like
hell you will,” Jaxon growled.

Andie
rolled her eyes. “Like I was saying, I have a feeling that wouldn’t fly with either
of you. So… the Keller Dare it is.”

Zac
scratched the stubble on his chin. “And what about the extradition issue?”

“I’m
working on that,” Jaxon muttered.

Zac
looked from him back to Andie with raised eyebrows.

“I’m…
er… still considering his proposal,” Andie mumbled. She tried to force down the
blush that flooded her cheeks and refused to look across the cave where Jaxon
was seated. She could see all the questions Zac wanted to ask her, but he’d
wait until they were alone.

She
glanced at her old friend. “There is another possibility that might buy a
little more time,” she said. “Our treaty.”

Zac
drew his eyebrows down in a fierce frown. “I thought you’d given up that idea?”

She
shook her head. “No. I wanted it for all cougars. Definitely not for Walter or
Kyle Carstairs. Keller is a much better trial run for it anyway.”

Jaxon
leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. “Anyone want to explain this to
me?”

Andie
faced him. “About three years ago, I was in Northern Canada catching up with a
Carstairs cougar who’d gone rogue. He’d taken asylum with Zac and his timik,
the first polar bear grouping ever created.”

“Before
she left, she started a conversation about a possible treaty,” Zac added.

“And
the rogue?” Jaxon asked.

“Shane
still lives with us,” Zac answered

Jaxon
raised his eyebrows. “Carstairs let him stay with you?”

Andie
shook her head. “That would never happen. I convinced Walter that I’d killed
him.”

“And
how’d you do that?”

Andie
picked up her water bottle and took a swig. She still felt sick when she
thought about the part she’d had to play in that whole mess.

“Shane
ripped off his own ear while in cougar form. His idea. He gave it to A.J. to
take back,” Zac answered for her.

Jaxon
nodded and compressed his lips with distaste. Cougars sometimes lost ears in
fights. The ones without ears that were still alive, those were the ones to
watch out for. But more often than not, if they lost the ear, they lost that
fight… and their lives.

“It’s
what finally earned me the role of Commander,” Andie said with a bitter twist
to her mouth. “Anyways… over the last three years, I’ve been trying to work out
this pact. Not with Carstairs, necessarily. I knew Walter and Kyle would
exploit the connection. My initial idea was that the agreement would be between
my father and Zac for protection of the dare only in the case of direct
attack.”

Jaxon’s
eyes narrowed as all the implications of what an alliance with polar bears
could mean. He looked at Zac. “What’s been holding you back?”

 “Carstairs
primarily. Miss A.J. here I trust implicitly, but her Alpha, or his son for
that matter, I don’t trust them as far as
they
could throw
me
.
Even if the agreement was for protection only, they’d use that to their
advantage once they discovered it. Too risky.”

“Sounds
about right,” Jaxon said.

Zac
raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to try to convince me to enter into a
treaty with your dare?”

“An
alliance with the polar bears could be a game changer for the Keller Dare as
well as the entire Shadowcat Nation. Of course I’m interested.”

“But?”
Zac prompted.

Jaxon
shrugged. “I get the feeling you’re a man driven by trust in a relationship,
and I haven’t earned yours yet. Have I?”

“Not
yet, but you’re closer than you were before I arrived.”

“I
gathered you were ready to rip into me, leave me for dead, and whisk Andie off
to safety.”

“Got
it in one.”

They
exchanged one of those manly smiles of understanding. Andie gave them a flat
stare.
Alphas
. “Once again, I am sitting right here fellas. And
perfectly able to take care of my own damn self, if you don’t mind.”

“Course
you are,” Zac said. “But even the best fighters need help when they’re
outnumbered. And you’re outnumbered right now.”

“In
more ways than one,” Jaxon muttered.

Awesome.
Now they were going to gang up on her together. And, unfortunately, they did
have a point.

Zac
glanced at Jaxon. “I’d like to stay with your dare for a while once we get
there safely. I’d be staying for A.J.’s sake.” He turned back to Andie. “My
offer of asylum, marrying me, or both still stands. You decide the Keller Dare
isn’t for you, then we leave that very second.”

 Andie
blinked. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when Zac shook his head.

After
a long silence, Jaxon finally said, “Okay.”

“Glad
we’ve got that established,” Zac said. “Because my second reason for staying
hinges on the first. I’m coming to discern for myself whether or not the Keller
Dare is worth making a treaty with.”

Andie
choked on her sip of water and then tossed Zac a sheepish grin. It was more
than Zac had been willing to do when she’d been with Carstairs. He must already
like Jaxon as an Alpha, or he wouldn’t even consider the thought.

Zac
suddenly stood and offered his hand to Jaxon. Andie’s eyebrows shot up, but
Jaxon rose to his feet and shook it solemnly. “You’re welcome to stay with the
dare as long as you feel is necessary,” Jaxon offered.

The
men released their hold, understanding and acceptance established.

“We
should take turns on patrol outside. While this cave is defensible, I’d rather
not be snuck up on,” Jaxon said.

Andie
and Zac nodded their agreement.

“I’ll
take first watch.” With that, Jaxon abruptly started stripping. Andie watched
for a second until he smirked at her. A few minutes later, he was gone.

“You
going to marry him?” Zac asked her once Jaxon was out of earshot.

Andie
smiled. “You never did beat around the bush.” Then she sighed. “And to answer
your question, I have no idea. My… emotions… are getting in the way of my
judgment.”

“You
like him?”

“I
do.”

“Respect
him? Trust him?”

“Yes
and yes. Despite his lying to me about who he was.”

“Sexually
attracted to him?”

She
smacked him on the arm, but he just kept looking at her, waiting for an answer.

“Yes.
All right? Like a frickin’ house on fire.” She thought of their coming together
in the middle of the night and was so turned on just thinking about it she felt
her pulse quicken.

He
held up his hand. “Didn’t ask for details.”

She
wrinkled her nose at him.

“Far
be it for me to tell you what to do, especially with such a big decision. But
he sounds like a good husband for you. Do you love him?”

Andie
shrugged. “Sort of,” she mumbled.

“Then
your answer should be clear.”

Doubt
shadowed her eyes. “What if he never loves me back? He’s talked about having a
place for my skills and us getting along. But he’s never mentioned love. I’ll
bring the Carstairs down on top of him, and he’ll deal with it because he’s
honorable. But all for what? A woman he’s trying to protect? That superman complex
might land him with a woman he doesn’t really want in the end.”

Zac
thought about that a moment. “Seems to me Jaxon Keller is a man who takes his
responsibilities very seriously. Maybe the question you ought to be asking
yourself is why he’s asked you to mate
and
marry him when the stakes are
so high for him and for his dare?”

Andie
blinked as she absorbed that suggestion.

Seeing
he’d made his point, Zac patted her hand and started cleaning up from dinner.